Russian ‘spy’ revealed as Bulgarian beautician Vanya Gaberova, 29, as cops charge 2 more on conspiracy
A RUSSIAN "spy" has been revealed as a Bulgarian beautician after cops charged two more people for alleged conspiracy.
Award-winning Vanya Gaberova, 29, is among five people now accused of espionage in Britain on behalf of Vladimir Putin's Russian regime.
She won prizes at the 2019 Grand Balkan Lash and Brow Championship for classic lashes and 2/3D volume.
Photos posted on social media show her posing with a trophy and a certificate.
She displayed a trophy at a beauty salon she set up the same year in West London.
Gaberova owned the Pretty Woman store in Acton, specialising in eyelashes, nails and eyebrows before her arrest in February.
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She was rounded up with three men and another woman following a joint Met Police and MI5 investigation.
A couple, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and Katrin Ivanova, 31, of Harrow, North West London, were initially charged along with Orlin Roussev, 45, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, with possession of false documents.
Gaberova and boyfriend Ivan Stoyanov, of Greenford, West London, were bailed.
The three men and two women were yesterday charged with “conspiring to collect information useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state” between August 2020 and February this year.
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Announcing the charges, Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said all five were “suspected of spying for Russia”.
Mr Price said “Roussev, Dzhambazov, and Ivanova were previously charged on 11 February 2023 with possession of false identity documents with improper intention”.
The five will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Tuesday.
Shocked neighbours of Gaberova’s shop said she was “very gentle and polite”.
Her salon remained open yesterday with one female employee working there.
Gaberova’s firm is called VG Pretty Woman Ltd and she apparently studied at Bulgaria’s University of National and World Economy.
Her biography for the 2020 Ukrainian Lash and Brow Championships lists her as winning 15 individual awards for eyelash work.
Another post claimed she had been “trained by the world’s best trainers” and started her career in 2016.
Other posts — since deleted from her Facebook account — boasted of her role as a judge in the Golden Top world lash championships.
She won awards in Russia’s Beauty Battle in 2020 for 2D lashes volume and 3D volume.
Her social media profile links her to “travelling, cooking, shopping, walking, and reading”.
It is suspected the spy ring also carried out surveillance operations on sensitive sites in Germany and Montenegro.
Cops discovered fake documents, including passports and driving licences, where Roussev was living and allegedly found forged press cards.
There was also clothing for the Discovery and National Geographic TV channels.
Neighbours of Dzhambazov and Ivanova said the couple had lived in the area for around ten years.
The married couple are said to have calling over to neighbours in Harrow, north-west London, with gifts of cakes and pies.
Price said today: "The CPS has authorised a charge of conspiracy to conduct espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.
"Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, will be charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023.
"Roussev, Dzhambazov, and Ivanova were previously charged on 11 February 2023 with possession of false identity documents with improper intention under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010.
"The charges follow an investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.
"Criminal proceedings against the five individuals are active and they each have the right to a fair trial.
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"It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.
"The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for a criminal court to consider."
